


Enchanted

by orphan_account



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: AU, Christmas Ball, Dancing, F/F, Fluff, Love, Music, Sorry Not Sorry, brief Patty mention - Freeform, sorry to the other Busters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 15:26:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9130435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Erin meets a stranger at the Christmas Masquerade and is enchanted. Slight AU. Secret Santa exchange on tumblr for Prioris





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts), [HoltzmannRadioTimes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoltzmannRadioTimes/gifts).



> The second fic I'm giving Prioris because I wasn't pleased with the first.. Also, to HoltzmannRadioTimes - you earned this <3
> 
> Yes, I like Taylor Swift. No, I will not apologize. ENJOY THE FLUFF.

_~*_ _There I was again tonight_

_Forcing laughter, faking smiles  
Same old tired lonely place*~_

 

Erin forced another smile as she waltzed—not literally—around the grand ballroom that Columbia had rented for the holiday gala being hosted. As a lead STEM Professor in the Physics department, she was required to attend and mingle when she’d rather be doing literally _anything else_. Lights were strung up around the hall with festive gold and red ribbons adorning the frosted windows, a gargantuan spruce tree sat front and center in the hall where a string band sat in fine evening wear and played one happy holiday melody after the next as people danced and tried to sing words along to the melodies.

 

Servers passed by, keeping the h’ourderves and cheap alcohol flowing.

 

“Erin Gilbert. Is that you? I was hoping to run into you tonight—I almost didn’t recognize you with the mask,” a man with a haughty laugh that she would recognize anywhere approached her. Erin rolled her eyes behind the silver-studded mask that adorned the upper half of her face, complimenting her evening gown that flowed around her ankles and tied up nicely around her neck, leaving her shoulders and back bare, a pair of strappy sandals attached to her feet gave her a nice boost over his already shorter stature, her auburn pulled back but hanging loose down her neck.

 

“Phil, just charming as ever, and always so _witty_ ,” she quipped, not worrying that he would recognize the sarcasm when it slapped him in the face. The dark-haired man’s beady eyes twinkled behind a black-and-white checkered mask that matched his black-and-white tux, leering at her with what he thought was a charming smile and Erin forced her eyes away, fighting down the shudder that threatened to expel from her body at how he practically undressed her with his eyes.

 

She’ll never live sleeping with him that one time, down.

 

So far the masquerade had been somewhat alluring, she’d yet to dance, but she enjoyed watching some of her coworkers get a little tipsy off the very cheap champagne and let loose. But now, as the late hour approached, all Erin wanted to do was return home with a giant box of her favorite Indian takeout, a few cold beers and a cheesy Christmas movie to help make her feel less alone on the upcoming holiday break.

 

“So, I was wondering if maybe you’d like to grab a drink with me after this-”

 

“Goodnight, Phil,” she turned away, leaving him no option but to leave her alone. She was well aware that his girlfriend was nearby and he wouldn’t dare draw attention to the fact that he was looking at other women—especially, Erin, given their history—and she smiled in small victory as she began routing her escape.

 

Erin grabbed another champagne flute off of a nearby passing server’s tray and downed it in one long gulp. As she lowered her glass however, her eyes focused on the first set directly across from her, gazing beyond the crowd, twinkling crystal blue behind a simple white sequined mask.

 

 _~*_ _Walls of insincerity,_  
Shifting eyes and vacancy  
Vanished when I saw your face*~

 

Erin blinked, forgetting the empty glass in her hand and her clutch in the other, but the stranger’s eyes did not waver. They merely stared on at her, pink lips turned up in an amused smile, ignoring whatever her very tall and very loud counterpart was saying.

 

Erin recognized the darker woman, briefly, as a professor from the History department, but Erin’s eyes couldn’t move away either as the blue eyes gazed at her.

 

 _~*_ _Your eyes whispered, "Have we met?"_  
Across the room your silhouette  
Starts to make its way to me*~

 

Her heart seemed to thud against her breast as if telling her to move. The person—the _woman_ —whose face was partially hidden by the mask, stepped forward, revealing her outfit, a rather strange, but alluring suit, completely white and tailored to fit her lithe frame and, Erin gulped as her eyes travelled south—absolutely nothing underneath her jacket. But a silver tie adorned her neck, falling in between the woman’s breastbone.

 

Her hair was pulled up in a style that practically defied all laws of Physics that Erin had ever studied and Erin found her feet moving forward with her own intrigue as the woman met her halfway.

_~*_ _The playful conversation starts_  
Counter all your quick remarks  
Like passing notes in secrecy*~

 

“Come here often?” the blonde spoke first. Her voice was rich, husky and sounded like satin in Erin’s ears. She had known from a very young age that she had found women just as appealing to her as men, but never had her body reacted the way it was now towards another of the same sex.

 

“Who are you?” Erin found herself asking, despite realizing only a moment too soon, along with the strangers smile—that it was supposed to be a _masquerade_. Not that Erin minded, since she knew practically everyone in the room already—but this woman was elusive. Erin honestly doubted she’d met this woman before, and if she had, she’d never forget those eyes.

 

“You seem to handle yourself pretty well against Professor Hollis over there-” the woman nodded towards the opposite end of the room, without her eyes leaving Erin’s.

 

“I’m not prone to his charms with the female faculty,” Erin responded, simply, feeling a blush creep up her neck as the stranger’s smile broadened, almost manically.

 

“I’ve heard terrible things,” the woman let the sentence trail off and Erin frowned, breaking eye contact to fiddle with the glass in her hands.

 

 _I should have known_ … _word travels fast_. Surely, it was no secret that Erin had had a brief affair with Phil at one point in time, not realizing of course, that he was a philanderer and also dating Margot, one of the more prestigious astrophysicists at Columbia.

 

The blonde realized it must’ve been the wrong thing to say, so she amends her statement by reaching out her hand to take Erin’s glass, gently.

 

“Might I have the honor?” Erin’s eyebrows furrowed at the change of demeanor, surely believing this beautiful woman now wanted nothing to do with her, but then realized that she was holding out her hand with no hint of joke or malice and Erin was simply _enchanted_ by her smile.

 

The blonde led Erin out onto the dance floor where the song had begun picking up into a fun melody and couples around the floor joined them in sync, but Erin’s eyes never left those of her partner’s as they began to laugh and dance together.

 

Erin felt her face flush even more when she’d catch her partner’s eye across the line of dancing professors and faculty members and the blonde would send her a wink and a smile, never letting her gaze falter, until Erin was back in her arms, twisting and twirling the night away with the music.

 

\--

 

“If you won’t tell me your name, won’t you at least tell me what you do here? I swear I know almost the entire faculty at Columbia,” Erin sighed as she and her partner took a break from the dance floor to grab another flute of champagne and catch their breath.

 

“Aha, well—that’s the trick, you see, I’ve just recently been accepted into the faculty, I’ve worked alongside the Engineering department for years from my station at CERN,” the blonde responded.

 

Erin choked on her last swallow.

 

“ _CERN?_ ” she gasped. The blonde offered her a napkin to cough into. “I’m sorry, are you telling me that _you_ worked for CERN and you came to work _here_? Why in Einstein’s name would you leave such a position like that?”

 

Erin gaped, astounded at the sheer brilliance this woman must have just to have been accepted into a prestigious university like Columbia, but to know that she’d come from the world’s leading Organization for Nuclear Research.

 

“I felt it was my time to go—I needed a change, my friends, all of my life is here in New York, CERN is amazing—but sometimes you have to look beyond the dollar amount and see what makes you really tick, that’s what makes me a brilliant engineer,” the woman answered, truthfully and without pride.

 

Erin shook her head, still slightly in disbelief.

 

“Incredible—foolish, maybe, but still.”

 

“Poe-tae-toe, toe-mah-toe,” the blonde shrugged with an easy smile. “Besides, if I hadn’t left, I wouldn’t be enjoying _your_ fabulous company here tonight.”

 

Erin felt herself grow warm under her dress once more as a blush spread up her neck and it made the blonde’s grin grow wider.

 

“Hush.”

 

A single cello began to play a sweet melody.

 

“Ladies and Gentleman, it has been an honor to serve with you another great year at Columbia University, please enjoy this final number by our band as we say goodnight, and have a wonderful and safe holiday season,” Dean Filmore held up a glass to toast to everyone and Erin finished her own drink with her partner of the evening.

 

“I love this tune,” the blonde glanced back at Erin, almost shyly. “I know I’ve taken up most of your night, but would it be too forward to ask you for one last dance?”

 

Erin blushed at the sincerity shining in her dance partner’s eyes, hardly able to believe how this night had turned around so quickly and offered back a genuine smile.

 

“The honor would be all mine, whoever you are,” Erin winked back with a slight finger gun move that she realized too late was just a little nerdy, but the blonde laughed sincerely before reaching down to take Erin’s hand, softly with her own.

 

For the second time that evening, Erin felt her entire body respond to the blonde, as if every atom in her body was singing, the callouses of the blonde’s hands were rough against her palms, but her touch was gentle, her other hand came to rest on the small of Erin’s back as Erin placed her other hand on the blonde’s shoulder and the blonde began leading Erin into a classic waltz.

 

 _~*_ _This night is sparkling, don't you let it go_  
I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home  
I'll spend forever wondering if you knew  
I was enchanted to meet you*~

 

Erin was a scientist, first and foremost, and beyond that, she was a realist who knew that flying without the assistance of a jetpack or an air machine was impossible, but she _swore_ on her own life that she practically floated off of the ground throughout that song as the blonde spun her around, twirling her in and out at just the precise moments, and then dipping her.

 

The entire time, Erin never once doubted that this woman would let her fall—but _oh_ , she was falling…in so, _so_ many ways.

 

“Jillian,” the woman finally spoke as she pulled Erin up from her final dip and Erin felt her world come back upright again.

 

“I’m sorry?” she breathed as she felt herself pressed close to her dance partner, chest to chest, practically breathing the same air.

 

“My name—it’s Jillian Holtzmann,” she stated. “My friends call me Holtz, but I think I’ll allow you to call me whatever you’d like.”

 

Normally Erin would roll her eyes at such a blatant attempt at bad pick-up lines, but with the way the evening has gone and the way that she felt such a _pull_ towards this woman.

 

_~*_ _All I can say is it was enchanting to meet you*~_

 

“Jillian,” Erin whispered. The name falling on her tongue like a warm, familiar tune. “This has quite possibly been one of the best nights I’ve had in a very long time,” she spoke honestly and was rewarded with a megawatt smile.

 

“I’m very happy to have helped make it so,” Holtz replied.

 

“Jillian?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Are you—am I crazy? Or do you-?”

 

“I feel it, too.”

 

“Good.”

 

“May I kiss you?”

 

“ _Please_.”

 

Erin gazes intently into crystal blue eyes, reaching up carefully and pushing the white sequined mask up and out of Jillian’s face. The blonde blinked as the garment came off of her face and Erin took in the sight of the blonde fully for the first time that evening. Jillian said nothing, and Erin reached up and undid her own mask and she saw the crystal blue of Holtzmann’s eyes darken just slightly.

 

“Enchanting.”

 

Erin sank into her arms as their lips met, softly together, coming together to end their meeting, much like how it began.

 

_~*_ _Please don't be in love with someone else  
Please don't have somebody waiting on you*~_

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holtzbert HoliGAYS


End file.
